Fat Pursuit...Virtual.

 When I left the house yesterday morning, just past 7:00, my plan was to do the first part of the Dirt Bag course then jump on the mountain bike trails in Monticello.  I was going to "wing" it after that.  That all changed heading down county road 8.

I decided to add in the Silo route and the Long Lake Loop.  Both not long but it all adds up.  I did a lap at Island View Park as well.  On the far side of the Silo route I came across some snowmobile trails.  They looked better than I thought they would so I jumped on.  With fairly rock hard tires the trail was dang good.  I'd bust through a few times but not often.  This section of trail was only a few miles long before I jumped on Hwy 24 and headed to the start of the Dirt Bag.

More snow would be nice but these were pretty dang fun.

The Dirt Bag course was in good shape but lots of ice.  Having studs was very helpful.  I followed the Dirt Bag to almost Maple Lake.  There I jumped on another section of snowmobile trails.  I took this to county road 37, which I took into Maple Lake and back on the Dirt Bag route.

Once I was south of hwy 55 I deviated from the course and went straight South.  I figured I needed some more miles and I wanted to be done with the wind.  The wind had been picking up all day out of the S/SE. It was starting to wear on me so I did one big push into the wind to get it over.  

I was hungry most of the ride.  I brought 5 full size Snicker bars, 3 sleeves of Clif Bloks, and my hydration pack had a mix of Infinite Nutrition and Skratch.  By the time I finished my last push South I realized I'd need to stop in French Lake for some more food.  Dang, that's a lot of candy bars!  But frozen Snickers are easily eaten.

Wind blown minimum maintenance road that required some walking.

Part of the virtual Fat Pursuit challenge is to boil water at some point during the ride.  I stopped before the last hill to the gas station in French Lake.  I chose this spot for a couple reasons.  It's next to a river with a bunch of trees.  This allowed me to get cover from the wind.  Also if I got cold during the stop the gas station was just a bit up the road.

Water Boil!

Before leaving on the ride I thought about bringing some hot chocolate mix to not waste the hot water.  I opted not to.  I wasn't craving hot chocolate but man I could have gone for some of that Lipton noodle mix you just add to hot water.  Salt!

The rest of the ride was mostly with a tailwind.  That was a much needed boost.  The constant wind was starting to beat me down.

I wasn't sure where I would be at with mileage, I don't look too often, once I got close to town.  But I planned to hit up the single track on the South Side if needed.  I flipped my Garmin over to the data screen and saw I was going to finish almost spot on 200 km...nice!

The Ride.

I was surprised to see the temperature that high.  I was never super cold but with the wind and some sweat, it doesn't take much to get you chilled.  I was never worried as I had more gear to put on if needed, etc.

Overall I was very happy with how the ride went and how I felt.  Definitely not Idaho scenery, snow, or climbing but I liked it nonetheless.

Happy Weekend.